1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a confectionary fat composition containing cocoa butter and suitable for sandwiching or filling in biscuits, cakes and bread, which is excellent in flavor, melting properties, texture, shape retention at ordinary temperature and whipping properties, has a sharp meltability in the mouth and can be used without effecting any tempering treatment, and a method for producing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cocoa butter, which is hard at ordinary temperature but melts around the bodily temperature, has been used as a fat to be blended mainly in chocolates. However, the triglyceride structure of the cocoa butter makes it necessary to temper this material before the use.
Fat compositions which should be tempered can be hardly whipped and thus good whipping properties can be scarcely obtained in these cases. After the completion of the tempering treatment, namely, the crystal content in a fat rapidly increases and thus whipping on an appropriate crystal content level can be hardly effected. When a fat once solidified is temperature-controlled, the narrow temperature range allowing an appropriate crystal content makes it difficult to achieve uniform whipping properties.
It is, therefore, difficult to use cocoa butter, which should be tempered, as a confectionary fat suitable for sandwiching or filling purposes.
In addition, the application range of cocoa butter is restricted since its characteristic and distinct flavor might throw the flavor of the total products out of balance.
Although Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58037/1985 describes a method for producing an air-containing chocolate by rapidly cooling and kneading a chocolate, only a small amount of cocoa butter, if any, is used in this method.
On the other hand, there have been employed vegetable oils and animal fats and hardened products thereof, either alone or as a combination of a number of them, as confectionary fats for sandwiching and filling in, for example, biscuits, cakes and bread.
However these fats suffer from some problems in the melting properties at eating due to the triglyceride compositions thereof. More specifically, when high-melting fats are blended in order to maintain a good shape retention at ordinary temperature, the obtained product shows poor melting properties and a waxy texture at eating. As a result, the flavor of the product is seriously deteriorated and the commercial value thereof is lowered. When no high-melting fat is used in order to improve the melting properties, on the other hand, the obtained product has a poor shape retention at ordinary temperature. In this case, when the temperature is not appropriately controlled during the distribution, the shape and properties of the product are sometimes deteriorated.